| Summary: | Abstract Introduction The objective of this laboratory is to give first-year medical students the experience previously provided through animal labs, without using animals. Methods Dogs were chronically instrumented to demonstrate cardiovascular function and reflexes. This included aortic, left atrial and left ventricular catheters (LV), aortic and coronary flow probes, inferior vena cava, coronary artery and aortic occluders, and, in some instances, LV sonomicrometer crystals. The instrumentation allowed demonstrating the cardiac cycle and the direct and reflex responses to various interventions in conscious animals. The interventions included increasing and decreasing preload and afterload with drugs or vascular occluders and injecting an alpha or beta agonist, nitroglycerine, or veratradine into the left atria. Reactive hyperemia was demonstrated with the coronary occlusion. The data were recorded with the Power Lab system (ADInstruments). Results Data were obtained over a period of years, negating the need for animals. Some additional animals were prepared to fill gaps. The data were organized in an HTML format allowing the playback of AVI files or figures showing the response to the intervention. For more advanced analysis, the Chart 5 program (ADInstruments) was used. This lab has repeatedly been very highly evaluated by the students. They appreciate observing the integration of the cardiovascular system without the necessity of using animals. Discussion Such a demonstration can replace the experience previously obtained with live animal labs. However, it is the opinion of the authors that such educational tools will never completely duplicate the educational experience obtained with animal labs.
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